Between 1982 and 1985, $913,000 worth of funds – over $2.5 million in 2023 dollars – that were meant to go toward handicapped children at a school in Louisiana were misused and spent on pet projects that benefited other students.
Sen. William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, awarded the Department of Education his Golden Fleece Award in October 1986 for this egregious lack of oversight.
According to Proxmire, the funds were part of a program meant to exclusively help handicapped children, and federal law required they only be used for that purpose. Between 1982 and 1985, 13 projects were funded to ostensibly benefit only handicapped children.
Unfortunately, an audit by the Inspector General found, “Overall, the handicapped children received little, if any, benefit from the projects.” Additionally, the IG found some of the purchases were made for unallowable activities, and some of the purchased services were never actually provided.
Instead, the funds went to general purchases that benefited the entire school. In one instance, $385,200 was spent on computer software purchases. The price for these purchases was, in the auditor’s opinion, “unreasonable,” and auditors couldn’t find any justification for the contractor chosen or the price paid for its services. A similar conclusion was reached on consulting services that the school paid.
With a federal budget as large as the U.S., it’s impossible to give oversight to every contract awarded, leading to an immeasurable amount of money going towards sketchy personal pet projects instead of intended goals.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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